Droma dresil — sweet rice with droma — is a Tibetan Losar treat: rice cooked with yak butter and sugar, studded with the small sweet droma roots dug from the high meadows. Rich and golden, it is New Year's blessing food, shared for good fortune.
Warm, buttery rice glistens with sweetness, the droma tubers soft and faintly earthy among plump raisins and dates. Each spoonful is rich and celebratory, somewhere between a pudding and a pilaf.
Coating cooked rice in plenty of melted butter keeps the grains separate and glossy rather than sticky. The droma and dried fruit are pre-softened so they stay tender and sweet when folded through at the end.
Variations
with extra droma for richer feasts, plain butter-and-raisin version, with cashews and almonds, sweetened with brown sugar or molasses
On the Palate
Where Droma Dresil sits in the Tibetan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Soak the droma tubers until softened, then simmer until tender.
Watch outThe tubers are ready when they squash easily between two fingers — undercooked droma stays woody and mealy in the sweet rice.
- 212 min
Rinse the rice and steam or boil it until just cooked and fluffy.
- 33 min
Melt a generous amount of butter in a wide pan.
- 43 min
Add the cooked rice and turn it gently to coat in the butter.
Watch outTurn the rice, don't stir it hard — you want every grain slicked and glossy with butter, not mashed into paste.
- 53 min
Fold in the cooked droma, raisins, chopped dates and nuts.
- 64 min
Sweeten with sugar and warm everything through over low heat.
- 72 min
Stir until glossy and the fruit is plump and heated.
Watch outIt's done when the grains glisten and the raisins have plumped up soft — if the pan looks dull and dry, add a knob more butter.
- 81 min
Mound onto a plate and serve warm as a festive morning dish.
